I have recently wanted to spend the first moments of the day praying and finding inspiration from God. Honestly, I don’t know my next step in my career and this year is truly venturing into the unknown. While I must continue to search for a way to increase my income, I know that there is no better way to seek God’s will than by praying and spending time reflecting upon Him.
This is not my first attempt to spend a regular time in prayer each day. With prayer, I am not only referring to praying the rosary and other prayers I usually pray throughout the day. I am not only referring to reading the Bible. With prayer, I would like to refer to an extra time to get in touch with Him, to listen to Him and to speak to Him as I would speak to a beloved Friend.
It isn’t easy. There are a lot of distractions. Even the good work that we do can keep us from spending time with Him. Once I open my computer, I may just start by looking at my emails for the day, but sooner or later, I’d browsing the internet for other things until I’ve lost the chance to spend those first moments in prayer.
But we have to begin somewhere, and I felt that even 15 minutes is a good point to start. And that’s when I remembered the hourglass I have, which is timed just for that number of minutes.
I’ve decided that I would use it to just spend 15 minutes in quietness and in waiting. Even when I feel no inspiration. Even when I find no words to say. I would just sit still and spend 15 minutes at the start of the day as I ready myself for prayer.
If you have an hourglass like that and if you also want to spend this year growing closer with God, maybe you can use that hourglass to spend some time in silence and in prayer. You may feel a bit of struggle at first. You may not immediately feel that what you are doing is going anywhere. But stay still. Let that time pass and do what you can to simply await the grace of God.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"